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Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse but the almost total absence of Ashton baffles me. The longer and longer they go without committing to Ashton in a big way the harder and harder it will become to perform the works in the proper style. (Something of the sort has already happened in the US w/ ABT and the Tudor repertory.)

I would like to pose a question to those of you participating in this thread. When you see this repertory for 2008-09, what does it tell you about Monica Mason's vision for what the company will be in the 21st century?

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I would like to pose a question to those of you participating in this thread. When you see this repertory for 2008-09, what does it tell you about Monica Mason's vision for what the company will be in the 21st century?

An article published by Ismene Brown recently suggested strongly that Mason is just keeping the seat warm for a year or two until Johan Kobborg, a Man with Vision, takes over.

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I would like to pose a question to those of you participating in this thread. When you see this repertory for 2008-09, what does it tell you about Monica Mason's vision for what the company will be in the 21st century?

I'd be quite surprised to learn that Mason has 'a vision' at all - she strikes me as a pragmatist rather than a visionary.

Why isn't there more Ashton? Partly because there's not that much space left for anyone when so much of the season is given over to endless runs of the 19th century classics; partly because I'd guess Mason sees MacMillan as at least Ashton's equal and someone to whom she personally feels more connected; and partly because Balanchine seems to be the in thing at the moment and is taking up a lot of space in that section of the repertory. Should there be more? Of course: not because of the danger of losing the style or because it's the company's duty to preserve his work, but because he made great ballets which they should be proud to dance.

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Perhaps a better way to have put my question is this: What does this announcement tell us about the present state of things? I look it at and see two negative trends: A growing homogenization of the ballet repertory at the international level and a certain "crowding out" effect wherein certain choreographers and repertories are displacing others, perhaps permanently.

Am I being paranoid? Maybe. But then you know the old saying: Just because I'm paranoid, doesn't mean it isn't happening.

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Only one work by Ashton yet the company is reviving MacMillan's Isadora, the biggest turkey of all time, albeit in a cut down version. Note also the revival of Manon to coincide with ENB's production of the work that will be seen this autumn.